


Bloodsucker

by peachcitt



Series: the inherent homoeroticism of going to college [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Human/Vampire Relationship, M/M, Mild Blood, Mutual Pining, No Angst, except this user has never seen twilight, this is basically a crack fic, this is literally so dumb i can't believe i wrote this, twilight mention, vampire sokka, very dumb vampire jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:30:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25260145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachcitt/pseuds/peachcitt
Summary: The first day of college - the literal first day - Sokka had sat down right next to Zuko in a classroom filled with at least ten other empty seats, leaned over and asked, completely seriously, “dude, are you a vampire?”And Zuko had said “what the fuck” and now they were here, in Sokka’s shitty dorm, watching Twilight.orsokka makes stupid jokes ft. the inherent homoeroticism of vampirism
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: the inherent homoeroticism of going to college [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836976
Comments: 178
Kudos: 1484





	Bloodsucker

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy :)

There were a lot of things Zuko found annoying about Sokka. He was loud, he was kind of an idiot, his truck was arguably the worst piece of shit to exist on earth, he was weirdly jacked, and he chewed with his mouth open. It was vile. 

But perhaps the thing that pissed Zuko off the most was that from the very moment Sokka had met him, he’d latched onto a joke and absolutely _would not let it die._ It wasn’t even a funny joke. No one ever laughed. And yet.

“Lemme guess what you’re drinking tonight,” Sokka said, sliding into the seat next to Zuko and gesturing to Zuko’s beat up metal water bottle.

“Shut up,” Zuko said because he knew where this was going, and he was in the middle of trying to write the introduction for this stupid _Frankenstein_ essay.

“Oh, so it’s the usual,” Sokka said, nodding sagely. “Blood.”

“Oh, my god.”

“Don’t worry, Zuko,” Sokka said, unzipping his backpack and pulling out his giant journal that he used for all of his classes. “I won’t tell anyone your blood-sucking secret.”

“Literally shut up,” Zuko said, staring blankly at his laptop screen with the empty Google Doc glaring back at him. “I cannot express to you how much you should literally shut up.”

He’d spent a solid 15 minutes wandering around the entire three-story library to find an empty and secluded study room. And apparently Sokka had spent the exact same amount of time hunting Zuko down. And for what? For torment?

“I know, I know,” Sokka said, flipping open his journal to a page littered with equations and math notes Zuko couldn’t even begin to understand, “you want to keep it all on the down-low. I get it.”

“You’re so annoying, and I hate you,” Zuko said, and he very purposefully opened up his rented copy of the Norton Critical edition of _Frankenstein_ and stuffed his nose in it. He heard Sokka laugh - that stupid, very cute laugh that he had - and then he went quiet. 

The next time Zuko glanced over at him, he was doing complex equations freehand in his journal and copying down his answers on his homework sheet. He had his earbuds in, phone playing a youtube video that was titled ‘1 Hour of Animal Crossing Study Music.’ Zuko sighed.

Sokka was a pain in the ass, but he was a very tolerable pain in the ass. He also looked very nice when he was focused, with his eyebrows all furrowed in concentration, bright blue eyes steady on his paper. 

This was maybe another thing Zuko found annoying about Sokka: Zuko was maybe a little bit in love with him. That was probably the most annoying bit of all.

  
  


\---

  
  


Zuko and Sokka had become friends in their freshman year seminar class. At that point in time ‘friends’ was a very generous label, considering the fact that he remembered it being a bi-weekly struggle all semester of holding himself back from kicking Sokka’s ass. Because that’s when the stupid vampire jokes started.

The first day of college - the literal first day - Sokka had sat down right next to Zuko in a classroom filled with at least ten other empty seats, leaned over and asked, completely seriously, “dude, are you a vampire?”

And Zuko had said “what the fuck” and now they were here, in Sokka’s shitty dorm, watching _Twilight._

Sometimes, Zuko really believed that he was the biggest idiot in the world for not only being friends with the most annoying person on the planet, but also in weird stupid gay love with that person.

“This documentary sucks,” Sokka said, flicking a popcorn kernel at Zuko. 

“Documentary?” Zuko asked, incredulous.

“I mean, it’s not even realistic,” Sokka continued. “Vampires don’t sparkle. I mean, _you_ don’t.”

Zuko grabbed a fistful of over-buttered popcorn and hurled it at Sokka’s face. 

Sokka laughed, and Zuko almost forgave him for being an idiot. Almost. “Touchy much?” Sokka asked, wiping his face. “And you’re cleaning this up.”

“No way,” Zuko said, facing the TV and watching Edward and Bella do whatever it was they were doing. “I don’t live here.”

“Come on, what happened to Scouts’ honor? Leave the place cleaner than you found it?”

“I was not and have never been a scout,” Zuko said, and Sokka snorted.

“Oh, yeah, because you’re from the 16th century or whatever. Hey, did you know Shakespeare in your human life? Is that why you’re an English major?”

“I’m literally going to strangle you with my bare hands.”

Sokka grinned at him. “I’d like to see you try.”

And, really, Zuko was pathetic. There was no reason for that to make him blush, and yet.

“I hate you,” Zuko said, hoping it was dark enough in the room that Sokka didn’t notice his red cheeks. “I literally hate you so much.”

“Love you, too, babe,” Sokka replied, and he picked up a popcorn kernel from the floor and popped it into his mouth. It was disgusting. Zuko loved him.

“Shut up.”

“Just to let you know, I’m Team Edward all for you,” Sokka said, giving him finger guns. “Team Zuko, if you will.”

“When you die, I’ll dance on your grave.”

“Bold of you to assume I can die.”

  
  


\---

  
  


Sokka got sick. He kept on sending Zuko Snapchats with those stupid sick day bitmojis and stickers, captioning the pictures of him looking like literal death in his tiny dorm bed things like ‘tfw you throw up so much your mouth tastes exactly like the throw-up flavored jelly bean from bean boozled’ and ‘missing your radiant grouchy attitude<3’ so Zuko figured dropping by with medicine and a thermos full of his uncle’s tea was the least he could do.

When he got to Sokka’s dorm, the door was open, all the lights were off, and Sokka was bundled up in every single blanket he owned. Which, considering Sokka, someone who complained when it was less than 78 degrees out, was a lot.

“Katara?” Sokka rasped from his bed, lifting up his head from where it was propped up on at least three pillows. “Did you bring me the good stuff?”

“No, it’s Zuko,” Zuko said, glancing over at the TV, which was playing reruns of _How it’s Made,_ Sokka’s designated comfort show _._ He looked back at Sokka. “I brought some stomach medicine and my uncle’s special tea.” 

Sokka pulled the blankets up to his nose, blinking at Zuko. “Aw, so sweet of you to do even though I’m sure a vamp like you doesn’t know anything about human sickness.”

“I’ll find a way to make this stomach medicine into a murder weapon,” Zuko said, holding up the pink Pepto Bismol box, and Sokka gave a small laugh which quickly devolved into a series of hacking coughs. “Dude,” Zuko said, kneeling down beside Sokka’s bed and setting aside the tea and the medicine. “Are you actually dying?”

“Is that concern I hear?” Sokka asked. “Do vampires have feelings?” He was still talking from behind his blankets, his words all muffled.

“Shut up,” Zuko said, leaning forward and pressing the back of his hand to Sokka’s forehead. He jerked his hand back, frowning at Sokka. “You’re cold as ice. What the fuck.”

“No big deal,” Sokka said, his hand peaking out from underneath the blankets to wave half-heartedly. “Just ate something bad. I’m lactose intolerant, you know.”

“No, you’re not,” Zuko said, rolling his eyes. “We’ve gone out for ice cream at least ten times, and one of your go-to meals at the dining hall is the five-cheese mac-and-cheese.”

“It’s _sudden_ lactose-intolerance, Zuko,” Sokka said, rolling his eyes back at him like Zuko was the one being stupid. “All of the. Fucking. Lactose and whatever catches up to you all of the sudden. My body is punishing me for all of the extra bowls of shitty five-cheese mac-and-cheese I had.” He nodded sagely. “It happens, Zuko.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Zuko said. 

“Yeah, it does. It’s happening right now.”

“Just take this fucking Pepto Bismol and take a nap,” Zuko said, opening up the box and punching out the pink tablets. He pulled Sokka into a sitting position, pushing down the blankets and placing the tablets in Sokka’s hand. Sokka eyed the tablets suspiciously. Zuko rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’m not leaving until you do.”

“Joke’s on you, I _want_ you to stay,” Sokka said.

“Then I’ll leave if you don’t,” Zuko said, pretending that what Sokka had just said didn’t make his heart leap up to his throat and his stomach drop down to his toes.

Sokka made a face and then popped the tablets into his mouth. Zuko held out the thermos of his uncle’s tea to help wash it down, but Sokka pushed it out of the way, hand still covering his mouth.

“I’m going to throw up,” Sokka said from behind his hand, scrambling out of his bed and sprinting over to the bathroom.

“That is literally the opposite of what should be happening right now,” Zuko called.

There were a few retching noises. “Can’t hear you,” Sokka called back, voice hoarse, “too busy puking my guts out.”

Zuko leaned against Sokka’s bed. “Do you need help?”

“Throw- _ugh-_ throwing up? No, thanks.”

Which was very good for both of them. Zuko was getting queasy just listening to him.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Given that Sokka was still preoccupied with apparently emptying every single one of his organs from the inside of his body, Zuko got up from where he was sitting and opened the door. 

A young girl with the same brown skin and bright eyes as Sokka brushed passed him, rustling through her bag. “Honestly, Sokka, I’ve already told you so many times not to keep eating all that stuff when you _know_ it’s bad for you,” she said, going over to the measly kitchenette and pulling down a large mug that said ‘Women Want Me Fish Fear Me’ from the cabinet. “And you really have to temper yourself with-” She looked up and froze. “You’re not Sokka.”

“You must be Katara, Sokka’s little sister,” Zuko said, offering her his outstretched hand. “My name’s Zuko.”

“Uh-huh,” she said slowly, shaking his hand and zipping her bag shut with the other hand. “You’re Sokka’s _friend.”_ She said ‘friend’ like it meant something else. Zuko tried not to think too much about it. “Where’s Sokka?”

As if on cue, there was a series of very loud and obnoxious retching noises from the bathroom. Katara pursed her lips.

“He’s in the bathroom,” Zuko said, as if this fact was not already obvious.

“Right,” Katara said, and she drummed her fingertips on the counter. “Listen, Zuko, it’s great that you’re here, and all, but I can take it from here.”

Zuko blinked. “Oh. Um. Okay?”

“Yeah.”

He shifted on his feet. “I’m gonna go, um, say bye.”

“Sure.”

Escaping to the bathroom, Zuko found Sokka kneeling in front of the toilet, groaning listlessly, his cheek pressed against the seat of the toilet. “Dude, your sister is so scary,” Zuko said, placing a hand on Sokka’s sweaty and cold back.

“Yeah, she’s like that,” Sokka muttered, and then he sat up. “Wait, she’s here?”

Zuko nodded. Sokka smiled, and then turned his face into the toilet bowl, vomiting rather obscenely. Zuko turned his face away and tried not to gag.

“Oh, thank God,” Sokka said, wiping his mouth. “I thought I was going to die.”

“I _did_ try to give you Pepto Bismol,” Zuko said, and Sokka placed an ice cold hand on Zuko’s shoulder.

“And I love you for that, you out of touch bloodsucker,” he said, and Zuko rolled his eyes. “But- _oh fuck-”_ He turned his head back into the toilet, and the sound that came next was so unbelievably disgusting that Zuko physically distanced himself from Sokka.

A hand settled on Zuko’s shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his skin, looking up to see Katara standing behind him. “It’s time for you to go,” she said, and Zuko nodded.

“Yeah, right, sure,” he said, standing up and patting Sokka twice on the back. “Um. See you later, I guess.”

Sokka raised an arm weakly, not looking up from the toilet. “Bye, Zuko- _hrgk.”_

Zuko winced, backing out of the bathroom. Almost as soon as he was out, he heard Katara’s voice.

“God, what are you? An idiot?” he heard her ask, and he raised an eyebrow. “Is there _anything_ in that skull of yours at all? I don’t think so!”

He decided he should make a speedy exit.

  
  
  


\---

  
  


“This is a sign,” Zuko said when Sokka’s shitty truck stalled for the seventh time. “You believe in signs and the universe and whatever bullshit. This is a _sign.”_

“This is just our warm-up dance,” Sokka said, turning the key. The engine made very agonized clicking noises. “She’s just getting ready.”

“She’s getting ready to _die,_ Sokka,” Zuko said, crossing his arms and flopping back in the passenger seat. “In fact, she’s already dead.”

Sokka gasped in offense, trying the key again. “Don’t say that! You’re giving off bad vibes.”

“I’m going to get out of this shit ass piece of garbage and kick your ass.”

“Those aren’t good vibes at all,” Sokka said, and Zuko opened up the door of the truck, swinging a leg out. At that exact moment, the piece of garbage truck decided that exact moment to turn on. Sokka gave him a shit-eating grin. “It’s a _sign,_ Zuko,” he said.

“I’m going to punch you in the teeth,” Zuko said, swinging his leg back inside the godforsaken truck and closing the door again. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

‘This’ being attending a costume-themed frat party, something that sounded like literal hell to Zuko. Sokka had bought him a stupid expensive vampire costume from Party City to force him into going, and Zuko had yelled at him for a solid twenty minutes about wasting money, and then Sokka had given him the puppy eyes, and now he was picking him up from his uncle’s house so that they could go to the stupid frat party in matching costumes.

Zuko was the vampire. Sokka was the vampire victim. He was dressed entirely normally except for two dots of fake blood on his neck. Zuko couldn’t believe he was in love with him.

But also on the drive to campus, Sokka put on ‘Every Time We Touch’ by Cascada and had sung all of the words at the top of his lungs, smile all wide and eyes all bright, and he’d looked over at Zuko, all loud and grinning, and Zuko had thought _yeah._

Just _yeah._

The party was already in full swing by the time they got there, and Sokka bee-lined for the dance floor while Zuko bee-lined for the bar. No way was he surviving a night at a party without being at least a little bit inebriated.

The kid on drink duty gave him a cup full of really gross beer, and Zuko downed it all in one go. He did the same with the next. 

On his third, he thanked the kid and went out to the fringes of the dance floor, leaning against the wall and sipping on the lukewarm beer. Some people from his classes came over to talk to him, and he tried his absolute best to seem like he was having a good time, giving them smiles that felt like grimaces and even making efforts to try and figure out what they were saying above the blasting music.

It was hell, truly.

He was going to kill Sokka.

He finished the very cheap and bad beer, throwing it in the overflowing trash can, and turned back to the dance floor. He already had a decent enough buzz, so there was no point in going back for another drink. He considered slipping outside to get a break from the relentless humidity of the house, but then Sokka was there, grabbing on his arm and managing to pull him onto the dance floor.

“I’m not dancing,” Zuko tried to say, but either Sokka didn’t hear him or pretended not to hear him. He took Zuko’s hands and swung them back and forth, coaxing him into swaying the bare minimum amount to the beat.

When that had been achieved, he leaned in dangerously close to Zuko, nearly pressing his mouth to his ear. “I requested a song for you. You’re going to love it.” He pulled away to see Zuko’s expression, eyes so dilated they looked nearly black.

“What song?” Zuko asked, and Sokka shrugged elaborately, grabbing his hands and forcing him into dancing.

It remained a mystery until the opening guitar of fucking ‘Mr. Brightside’ started to blast from the speakers. Zuko whipped around to look at Sokka, who was definitely giving him a shit-eating grin.

“Just for you, emo fuck,” Sokka yelled above the music, and then he started to sing along.

“You suck,” Zuko yelled back, but he was grinning, too, and he started to sing along because he was buzzed, and Sokka was there in front of him, wearing a fucking _crop top,_ and it was fucking ‘Mr. Brightside,’ of course he sang along.

The rest of the party was basically fucking heaven because Sokka wouldn’t let him leave the dance floor, which meant he was packed in with a whole bunch of people - a whole bunch of people _including Sokka -_ which meant every time Sokka moved, Zuko could feel it. Sokka was kind of a shit dancer, and so was Zuko, but nobody really seemed to care. Zuko certainly didn’t.

In the truck after the party, Zuko and Sokka laughed for twenty minutes over the truck not starting. Zuko wasn’t even drunk anymore, and Sokka never really drank, not at parties, so they were just sober laughing about nothing in the parking lot, and Zuko thought that this was maybe the best night of his life.

“It’s a piece of garbage,” Zuko said after the truck didn’t start for the millionth time, his laughter making the words all soft.

“It’s a sign,” Sokka said, smiling and looking over at him with his eyes all sparkling like stars.

“A sign for what? That you need a new car?”

 _“No,_ that you should stay the night and watch fucking _Breaking Dawn_ with me or some shit,” Sokka said, and Zuko groaned, leaning his head back on the headrest.

“Not a fucking _Twilight_ movie,” he said, and Sokka cackled. “They’re so bad. I hate them.”

“Nah, you love them.”

Zuko turned his head to look at Sokka, his chest all warm and fuzzy. “I hate you,” he said, and it sounded like the opposite, actually, and Sokka’s eyes were so soft, and his lips looked pretty soft, too.

“Nah,” Sokka said, and he leaned his head against his own headrest, smiling softly. “You love me.”

Maybe any other night Zuko might’ve said literally anything else, but everything felt so warm and right tonight, and so he just smiled back. “Yeah,” he said. “You got me.”

And then Sokka was surging forward, grabbing Zuko’s face with his hands and smashing their lips together. It kind of hurt a little, and for a second, Zuko sat frozen, alert sirens sounding in his head.

Sokka pulled away, looking at him all vulnerable and soft, like he was afraid Zuko would push him away, and Zuko thought _fuck that concept, actually_ and kissed Sokka like he needed to do it to breathe.

It was almost disgustingly messy, with spit and very gross amounts of tongue, but it was also perfect in every single way because Sokka had one hand behind his neck and the other on his waist, and Zuko had both his hands on Sokka’s face, cradling him in the way he’d always wanted to.

Sokka’s mouth left his to press kisses along his jawline, trailing down his neck, and Zuko’s hands moved into Sokka’s hair, his breath coming to him in bursts. He felt like he was dying in the best way possible, and when Sokka’s teeth bit down on the tender flesh of his neck, Zuko let out a sound that he would probably be embarrassed of later, arm jerking out and slamming against the horn of the truck.

The horn blared. Zuko yanked his arm away. Sokka tucked his face into the crook of Zuko’s shoulder, and Zuko could feel his smile there.

“So your truck doesn’t work but the horn does?” Zuko asked, and Sokka laughed. He shifted his face and licked where he’d bitten Zuko, soothing the throbbing skin. 

“Sorry,” he said, and Zuko shook his head, not even trying to fight back his smile. Sokka looked up at him. 

Zuko remembered that they had kissed. That Sokka had just been kissing his neck. What the fuck.

“We just kissed,” he said, as if this was not obvious.

“Yeah,” Sokka said. “We could do it again, if you want.”

“Of course I want to, what the fuck.”

  
  
  


\---

  
  


So they were dating. As in, Zuko was Sokka’s boyfriend and Sokka was _Zuko’s boyfriend._

Literally unbelievable. 

Also unbelievable that their first kiss happened while Zuko was wearing a stupid expensive vampire constume from Party City, but Sokka made up for that by kissing him as much as he possibly could without being an inconvenience. So Zuko forgave him for that.

Normally they met up at the library or the commons before going out, but after class one day Zuko decided to surprise Sokka by going over to his dorm. And considering that Sokka never locked his door, Zuko just opened it up. He didn’t expect to find Sokka there - Sokka had said he was in a study group until the end of the hour - but Sokka _was_ there.

In the kitchenette.

Pouring the contents of a blood bag into his ‘Women Want Me Fish Fear Me’ mug.

Zuko froze.

Sokka froze.

The contents of the blood bag spilled onto the counter.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Sokka said, grabbing the paper towels and wiping up the blood.

“It looks like you’re about to drink blood,” Zuko said, and Sokka winced.

“Okay, so it _is_ what it looks like.”

_“What the fuck.”_

“It’s fine!” Sokka said, abandoning the paper towels and rushing over to Zuko and grabbing his hands. “It’s not that big of a deal!”

“What, _and I cannot stress this enough,_ the fuck.”

“I only got bitten a few years ago,” Sokka said, squeezing Zuko’s hands and pleading at him with his eyes. “It was, like, this whole thing with my girlfriend at the time - Yue - and she turned me on accident, but my dad is a nurse, so he gives me almost-expired blood bags, so I don’t, you know, _bite people,_ and I file down the fangs so they’re not so sharp, so really, it’s all under control-”

“You’re a vampire,” Zuko said.

“Um,” Sokka said. “Well. Yeah.”

“What the fuck.”

“I was going to tell you!” Sokka said, squeezing Zuko’s hands so hard that his knuckles turned white. “So many times I was going to tell you! But I kept on getting nervous and afraid, and the right time never came, so-”

“You. Have been making vampire jokes at me,” Zuko said, tearing his hands out of Sokka’s so that he could grab his shoulders, _“for years.”_

Sokka blinked.

“But in all actuality,” Zuko continued, shaking Sokka back and forth, _“you were the fucking vampire?”_

Sokka blinked again. “That’s what you’re mad about?”

Zuko let go of him, waving a hand. “I mean, you can’t change what you are, and it’s understandable that you’d be afraid of telling me, so, like, that’s fine, but it’s been _two and a half fucking years,_ Sokka. Of _vampire jokes._ Towards _me.”_

“It was good cover?” Sokka said, and Zuko let out a loud growl.

“I’m going to kick your ass _so hard,”_ he said, and Sokka’s stupid cute face broke into a smile.

“So you’re still my boyfriend?”

“Of course I’m still your boyfriend, what the fuck.”

Sokka pulled him into a bone-crushing hug, letting out a sigh of relief against the crook of Zuko’s neck. “Thank God. I really love you, you know.”

Zuko softened, wrapping his arms around him and rubbing soothing circles along his back. “I love you, too. Bloodsucker.”

Sokka leaned back, raising his eyebrows. “Is that payback?” he asked, and Zuko smiled, placing his hand tenderly on Sokka’s cheek.

“The payback hasn’t even fucking started yet, fucker.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is literally so dumb i can't believe myself
> 
> this idea popped into my head earlier and it wouldn't fucgifng leave me alone and now we're here, at six in the morning. i hate myself
> 
> come find me @peachcitt on both tumblr and twitter
> 
> thank you for reading this hot mess of a fic ily goodnight


End file.
